Mumbai: A practice match, especially on a working day, may not witness a big crowd, but the one featuring the visiting England team on Tuesday was a special one.
It was the final time that India’s most successful skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen leading the side — although it’s an ‘A’ team. And the crowds too nearly packed the Brabourne Stadium in South Mumbai to witness ‘Captain Cool’, for one last time at the helm.
The Ranchi superstar and captain of the 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup winning squads was leading the India A side in the first of two warm-up matches to be played by the tourists here.
Since the afternoon, queues were seen at the gates of CCI as there was palpable excitement among the crowd. Initially, the East Stand was filled to its capacity, then the crowd thronged the North Stand at the Churchgate station end.
As the day progressed, the West stand too were filled to capacity. Notably, the entry to the crowd was free for this particular match. As the first wicket of Mandeep Singh fell, the crowds cheered “Dhoni, Dhoni” as they expected MSD to come next, but to their much disappointment Ambati Rayadu walked in.
Rayudu, however, struck an unbeaten century, while Dhoni blasted a 40-ball-68 and Yuvraj Singh (56 off 48 balls) also scored a half-century as India A scored 304 for 4 in the first warm-up game against England, here on Tuesday.
Another comeback man Shikhar Dhawan hit 63 off 84 balls while left-arm seamer David Willey took 2 for 55.
Meanwhile, Dhoni will be felicitated by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) when India play their third and final One-Day International match against England at the Eden Gardens.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed R.M. Lodha Committee is expected to clarify on the CAB’s query whether or not the assistant secretary is an officebearer is expected on Wednesday after a meeting of the committee members due to a confusion over the eligibility of Biswarup Dey.
Brief Scores: India A 304/4 (Ambati Rayudu 100 retd out, MS Dhoni 68 n.o., Yuvraj Singh 56, David Willey 2/55) vs England.
